Statistics and Biomedical Research

Abstract:

Biostatistics
is the application of statistical techniques to biological data obtained
prospectively and/or retrospectively. Statistics plays critical analytical role
in biomedical research. It is the bases for building clear inference from the
data collected in a biomedical evaluation and without which it would be
impossible to declare an outcome from any clinical trial. This critical role of
biostatistics in biomedical research was noted by Cadarso-Suárez, and González-Manteiga, (2007), who stated that
“the discipline of biostatistics is nowadays a fundamental scientific component
of biomedical, public health and health services research” and pointed out
traditional and emerging areas of application as “clinical trials research,
observational studies, physiology, imaging, and genomics”.

At
the same time, misuse of biostatistics has resulted in several misleading
outcomes and several workers have progressively noted the manystatistical
errors and shortcomings found in a large number of biomedical publications
(Porter, 1999; Cooper, et al., 2002; García-Berthou
and Alcaraz 2004; Strasak, et
al., 2007; Ercan, et al., 2007; Thiese, et al., 2015). Ercan, et al., (2007) specifically notes
that this observations cuts across “every
stage of a medical research related to data analysis; design of the experiment,
data collection and pre-processing, analysis method and implementation, and
interpretation”. Similarly, Thiese, et al., (2015), points to data
abuses such as “incorrect application of statistical tests, lack of transparency
and disclosure about decisions that are made, incomplete or incorrect
multivariate model building, or exclusion of outliers”.

The
role of statistics in medical research starts at the planning stage of a
clinical trial or laboratory experiment to establish the design and size of an
experiment that will ensure a good prospect of detecting effects of clinical or
scientific interest. Statistics is again used during the analysis of data
(sample data) to make inferences valid in a wider population. Specifically,
statistics has two roles in laboratory experiments and clinical trials.